The Importance Of Trans Fats

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Health associations are always advertising the risks of eating every food product this world has seen whether it’s doughnuts and cookies or even beef and chicken. For the most part, they aren’t trying to be a pain but there is a good reason behind their suggestions and regulations, and it’s not always the whole food itself but just a small piece inside it. Trans fats are one of the most feared, yet consumed, of the “killer foods”. While people overreact to the health lectures of how bad it is for you, they still continue to consume it, mostly due to a lack of proper understanding. It is important to eliminate trans fats or trans fatty acids in American diets because of the major health risks that are connected to its consumption and for the long term health of the American people.
In the 1890’s a French chemist developed the hydrogenation process, which is how trans fats are created. It wasn’t until 1902 that Wilhelm Normann turned liquid oil into trans fatty acids. He patented the process and trans fats became the first man-made product to join the food supply. During World War II, trans fats became popular as margarine and shortening became an alternative to butter. In the age of progression, scientists had started using technology to answer their many questions on health (A History of Trans Fats). In 1984, Consumer advocacy groups across the country began campaigning against the use of saturated fats in fast food restaurants such as McDonalds. In response to the fear spiked by the campaigns, fast food chains switched their saturated-fat-fried food to trans-fat-fried foods which quelled the storm, if only just temporarily. Food companies began using trans fats because they are an inexpensive preservative that also help improv...

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...er lifestyle, America will become a healthier country in its lifestyle, economy and business as a whole. In addition, coming up with a more sustainable option will help food companies in the long term because as more research is discovered, the more the public panics about trans fats.
Overall trans fats are not a force to be reckoned with and have many repercussions to ignorant consumption. The unstudied and unrestrained early use of trans fats in food products have today’s society addicted to the taste-enhancing substance. Heart diseases, high cholesterol, obesity, strokes, heart attacks and diabetes are all linked to the over-consumption of trans fats. The negative repercussions on the American economy are a possibility but are not steep enough to stand by and watch the American public slowly waste away from the unrestrained consumption of this deadly killer.

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